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Government unveils early pension proposal

Christian Wenande
August 18th, 2020


This article is more than 4 years old.

If you’ve worked for at least 42 years, you can retire early at get just over 13,500 kroner per month … depending on what job you’ve had

Early retirement on the horizon now … for some (photo: Pixabay)

One of the key platforms of PM Mette Frederiksen’s campaign for the 2019 General Election was restructuring the Danish pension system to allow worn-out workers to retire early.

Well, the government has come through with that pledge today, unveiling a new proposal that will allow people who have been in the Danish labour market for at least 42 years to retire early and receive 13,550 kroner a month before tax.

“Every day there are Danes who have to go to work with pain in the knee, back or shoulders. We want to add an initiative to those who have paid taxes for a long time and worked the toughest jobs,” said Frederiksen.

READ ALSO: Government open to discussing early pensions for worn-out workers

Depends on the job
The proposal includes a model whereby people can retire a year earlier than the pension age if they’ve worked 42 years – and two years earlier for 43 years and three years earlier for 44 years. The demands will rise as the national pension age increases.

However, not everyone will have the right to embrace early pension, as it depends a lot on the industries in which people work.

For instance, among workers in metal and food production, over 60 percent of union members can gain the right to retire early, but only around 5 percent of academics and teachers can.

Read more about the proposal in the fact box below or download the entire proposal here (in Danish).


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”